IBMA Statement of Purpose
Exploring the Value of Budo and Passing It On to Future Generations
Throughout its long history, budo has developed not only as a system of combat techniques, but also as a culture through which people train their bodies and minds, cultivate their character, and explore better ways of living.
Budo contains accumulated wisdom that helps people live more meaningfully within society. This includes technical knowledge as well as courtesy, courage, perseverance, responsibility, self-discipline, and respect for others.
Today, however, our social environment and values are changing significantly. We must therefore reconsider the meaning and role of budo in contemporary society.
Should budo be concerned only with technical ability and competitive achievement? Can its value be passed on to future generations merely by preserving established traditions? For what purpose, and in what manner, should we use the strength developed through budo?
IBMA (International Budo Human Development Association) addresses these questions and works to explore the essential nature and future possibilities of budo.
Budo as an Educational Culture for Human Development
IBMA regards budo not merely as a system of combat techniques or a form of competition, but as an educational culture through which people develop body and mind, understand themselves and others, and explore better ways of living.
Budo training requires us not only to improve our techniques and physical abilities, but also to confront our weaknesses, fears, uncertainties, attachments, and assumptions.
To face an opponent is, at the same time, to face oneself.
Through this process, we learn to examine ourselves, bring the body and mind into harmony, and make calm judgments without being ruled by emotion, even under difficult circumstances. We can then learn to use our abilities responsibly and build better relationships with others.
IBMA believes that this process of human development represents one of the most important educational values of budo.
Reconsidering the Meaning of Strength
Strength in budo does not mean only the power to defeat or dominate another person.
It also includes the ability to govern one’s emotions and desires, to face fear and hardship without turning away, to acknowledge one’s mistakes, to continue learning, and to change when change is necessary.
True strength also means using one’s abilities not only for personal benefit, but for the benefit of others and society.
Victory has value. However, when victory becomes the sole objective, budo may cease to be a path of human development and become merely a means of establishing superiority and excluding others.
Defeat and failure also have important meaning. They offer opportunities to understand oneself, reconsider one’s assumptions, and grow.
IBMA does not deny the value of victory and competition. Rather, we continue to ask what we learn through training and how the abilities we develop should be used beyond victory and defeat.
Exploring Riho: Universal Principles of Reason and Practice
Through many years of practicing, teaching, competing in, and researching budo, Akira Masuda has come to believe that the exploration of Riho must form the foundation of budo training.
Riho refers to universal principles of judgment and action that accord with the essential nature of human beings and the natural order, guiding circumstances toward better outcomes. It is not a doctrine that applies only to one individual, school, or style.
To pursue Riho in budo does not mean accepting inherited techniques, teachings, or customs without question.
While respecting tradition, we must continue to ask why a technique is used, why training is conducted in a particular way, and what consequences those methods may have for the human body, mind, and society.
We do not regard any single answer as absolute. Instead, we form hypotheses, put them into practice, examine the results, and make revisions when necessary. Through this continuing process, we pursue techniques, educational methods, and ways of living that are more consistent with essential principles.
Riho Is the North Star of Training.
Just as the North Star shows travelers the direction in which to proceed, Riho provides a guiding principle when we encounter uncertainty, conflict, or hardship. It helps us determine the standards by which we should think, judge, and act.
Budo That Enables Both Self and Others to Flourish
For what purpose should the abilities developed through budo be used?
IBMA does not regard the purpose of budo training as personal survival at the expense of others or the subjugation of an opponent.
We seek a way in which people can fully express their own lives, abilities, and individuality while also respecting and enabling the lives, dignity, and potential of others to flourish.
This is one of the essential purposes of budo as understood by IBMA.
Enabling both oneself and others to flourish does not mean simply avoiding conflict or yielding to another person in every situation.
We must sometimes confront injustice or violence with the necessary courage and strength. However, such strength should not be driven by hatred, revenge, or personal gratification. It should be used to protect life and dignity and to restore healthier relationships and social order.
While recognizing differences between ourselves and others, we should respect one another’s existence and seek possibilities through which all parties may live more fully.
IBMA seeks to cultivate the judgment, courage, ability to act, and self-restraint required to pursue this ideal.
Opening the Mind and Opening New Possibilities for Budo
Takushin Budo is a budo philosophy and training system developed by Akira Masuda through many years of practice and research.
At its foundation is the principle:
Open the Mind and Open New Possibilities for Budo.
To open the mind means not regarding one’s own views as absolute. It means maintaining a willingness to learn from different opinions, experiences, cultures, and technical systems.
It also means freeing ourselves from past successes and fixed assumptions, acknowledging our mistakes and limitations, and remaining receptive to new possibilities.
Opening new possibilities for budo does not mean rejecting tradition.
It means respecting the techniques and spirit passed down by our predecessors, studying their essential meaning, and further developing the educational, cultural, and social value of budo in response to the needs of contemporary society and future generations.
IBMA does not seek to establish the superiority of one style or organization over another. We respect the traditions and distinctive qualities of different schools while learning from one another and exploring the future possibilities of budo together.
Inheriting Tradition and Creating the Future
Tradition cannot be preserved simply by maintaining its outward forms without change.
A culture remains alive when we understand the essence contained within its traditions, apply that essence to contemporary life, and develop ways of transmitting it meaningfully to future generations.
IBMA respects the techniques, spirit, history, and culture established by previous generations. At the same time, we seek to examine, document, and systematize them so that they can be passed on in ways consistent with contemporary standards of education, safety, ethics, and society.
Learning from tradition and creating something new are not opposing activities.
A deep understanding of tradition provides the foundation for creating the future. New knowledge gained through practice and research can, in turn, give renewed life to tradition.
IBMA connects tradition with creative development and passes budo culture on to future generations.
Supporting Lifelong Learning
Budo should not be limited to competition based on youth or physical ability.
Regardless of age, gender, nationality, experience, physical condition, or living circumstances, each person should be able to learn and continue developing through methods appropriate to their individual situation.
Physical strength and technical ability may change over time. Nevertheless, people can continue throughout life to examine themselves, learn how to use the body and mind, reflect on their relationships with others, and explore better ways of living.
IBMA seeks to develop budo not merely as a temporary competitive experience, but as a culture that supports learning and personal development through every stage of life.
Learning Together Beyond Countries and Styles
Budo has the power to connect people from different countries, regions, ethnicities, religions, cultures, organizations, and styles.
When people from different backgrounds respect one another’s history and culture and exchange techniques, knowledge, and experience, new understanding and trust can emerge.
IBMA does not exist solely to expand one organization or style. We seek to create an open forum in which budo practitioners, instructors, researchers, educators, and supporters can communicate while respecting one another’s positions and traditions.
By learning together through budo beyond national borders and stylistic differences, we seek to expand international understanding, friendship, and cooperation.
Applying the Value of Budo to Society
The value of budo should not remain confined to the dojo or the field of competition.
The courtesy, responsibility, perseverance, courage, self-discipline, judgment, and consideration for others cultivated through training reveal their true value when applied in families, schools, workplaces, and local communities.
IBMA returns the value of budo to society through youth development, instructor education, health promotion, community engagement, international exchange, and other forms of social contribution.
The strength developed through budo should not be used to place oneself above others. It should become the strength to support those facing hardship and to fulfill one’s responsibilities within society.
Activities Promoted by IBMA
To realize the purposes set forth in this statement, IBMA promotes activities in the following areas:
- Human development and education through budo
- Research into the theory and practice of budo education
- Research into safe and effective training and instructional methods
- Documentation and systematization of budo techniques, philosophy, history, and culture
- Development of educational resources, including the Digital Karate and Budo Textbook
- Education of instructors and people who will serve future generations
- Exchange among budo practitioners, researchers, and educators in Japan and internationally
- Research, practice, and international cooperation beyond organizational and stylistic boundaries
- Educational, health-related, and cultural activities within local communities
- Publication of research and educational materials through books, videos, and digital media
- Contributions to mutual understanding, friendship, and peace through budo
These activities do not exist independently of one another.
By connecting practice, research, education, exchange, and social contribution, IBMA seeks to clarify the value of budo from multiple perspectives and develop it in forms that will benefit contemporary society and future generations.
An Invitation to Those Who Share Our Purpose
The philosophy and objectives of IBMA cannot be realized by a single budo practitioner or organization.
New value and possibilities emerge when people with different experiences, areas of expertise, and cultural backgrounds come together, learn from one another, reflect, and cooperate.
Regardless of style or organizational affiliation, we invite the participation and cooperation of all those interested in human development through budo, educational research, cultural inheritance, international exchange, and contribution to local communities and society.
We hope to establish open and constructive relationships with budo practitioners, instructors, researchers, educators, health and medical professionals, people engaged in cultural activities, and all those who support the philosophy and activities of IBMA.
We seek to respect our differences, open our minds, learn from one another, and apply the value of budo to society.
We seek to enable not only ourselves but also others to flourish, and to pass a better society on to future generations.
This is the path that IBMA seeks to follow.
Budo Nurtures People and Connects the World.
We sincerely invite the understanding, participation, and cooperation of all those who share this philosophy and wish to walk this path with us.
IBMA — International Budo Human Development Association
Representative: Akira Masuda
